


now is time to heal

by Ariesy



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, Forgiveness, Friendship, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbian Character, Mental Health Issues, No Lesbians Die, Post-Game(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:41:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26019724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariesy/pseuds/Ariesy
Summary: Ellie collects her thoughts on her way back to Jackson while meeting new people. She will have to face the consequences of her actions, and deal with her own mental health issues. She’ll also find a way to make her life matter again.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us), Maria/Tommy (The Last of Us)
Kudos: 19
Collections: dina x ellie





	1. the end of a cycle

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to imagine what happens on her way back to Jackson, so here's (the beginning of) my take on it. I hope you enjoy it. This will go on for two or three chapters, and then we'll get to what happens when she comes back to Jackson.  
> I also am very sad about what they made Ellie go through in part II, so I guess I wanna make up for it by imagining my own happy ending following this. Even though, I would've wanted some things not to happen whatsoever.

"Go. Just take him." she says holding her hurting fingers.  
  
She sits there as Abby carefully gets back on the boat where Lev stayed unconscious. Tears are running down her face and she's gasping from anger, sadness and exhaustion. Her head is empty as she hears the sound of the boat's engine fading into the distance. **This** is over.  
  
She stays there, alone, silent, for a really long time with just one image in mind : Joel's face. She looks at her missing left pinky and ring finger before squeezing what's left of them to somehow make the pain go away, but of course it doesn't work. She takes a look at the boat that's been waiting for her with her backpack inside. As she gets up with difficulty, she hears the Rattlers getting closer to the beach. _I should get going_ , she thinks.  
  


* * *

  
She's left the beach for a good forty minutes now. She's been trying to not get too far from the coast since her goal is to make it far enough from the Rattlers, but still get back to Jackson as soon as possible. But before that, she needs to find a somewhat safe place to stay at for a few day until she recovers from the wound that's been keeping her closer to death than she's ever been. _I deserve some rest_ , she thinks.  
  
The wind rises, forcing her to immediately get to the nearest coast. _I'm very lucky the sea's been nice to me today, but I shouldn't take any risk : I'm a mess right now, and I might have run out of luck_. She lands on a beach that seems pretty quiet and safe. Her substitute sutures' efficiency is coming to an end, which is the only thing that prevents her from sleeping here for the night, under some rock. _No, I need to find more stuff to stitch myself up with first if I don't wanna croak in my sleep.  
  
__Every step is fucking painful._ After a while, she sees the lights of a settlement. _There seems to be nothing around here and I'm dying anyway, so that's my only option._ She catches sight of people holding guns from a lookout. When she's only five meters away from the gate, a light turns on behind it. She gets even closer and a peephole opens.  
  
"What are you here for, traveler ?" asks the man behind the gate.  
  
Ellie can only see his eyes, but the man is not alone, and Ellie knows that.  
  
"I thought it was pretty obvious, I'm dying here." Ellie breathes for a moment. "I am dying." you can hear the pain in her voice. She has a hard time formulating a proper sentence. "I got captured by some Rattlers and I found a way to escape. I just wanna rest and get a few stitches. I will leave tomorrow, I promise."  
  
The man whispers something to another man next to him. _Probably evaluating my case_ , Ellie thinks.  
  
"We'll let you in. One condition, you stay for a week. We can take a helping hand." he says.  
  
"Fine by me" Ellie says, holding her deep wound.  
  
The door opens, letting her in. Ellie isn't certain if she can trust them, but it's not like she really has a choice.  
  
"Thanks" she says, walking alongside the man who seems to be the leader.  
  
"Name's Darren. I made this town what it is today, and I'm its proud leader."  
  
"I could tell..." Ellie says, laughing softly as a way to say that it was pretty obvious.  
  
"I know, we gotta be careful these days. Especially with these Rattlers. We've heard of them too, and they even took some of our people while they were on patrol. Unfortunately, we're a pretty recent city. It started to become active a few months ago. We're only about seventy here, and we're nothing next to this group of super-numerous-super-armed monsters. So we're just trying to be careful, but going to their place to try to get our people back is not gonna happen."  
  
He pauses for a moment.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't ask you... what's your name ?"  
  
"Ellie."  
  
"Then welcome to the Ventura Safe-Zone, Ellie."  
  
A woman arrives from behind Ellie and gets between them, touching her shoulder. She looks at the blood that spread on Ellie's top.  
  
"Darren, I'll have to take her to the nurses now" she says precipitately.  
  
Darren does a hand gesture that implies he is ok with it. The woman quickly nods and helps Ellie walk to some nursery house.  
  
"She's badly injured. Please take care of her." she says to some nurses while helping Ellie to a hospital bed.  
  
_Fuck, this bed's uncomfortable_. She raises her head with difficulty to see what's happening. Four women are taking care of a heavily wounded guy. She can't really see what happened to him, but she guesses it's pretty bad given the amount of blood on the bed. She gets surprised when a nurse comes up to her from the other side of her bed.  
  
"Oh, sorry. I'm gonna take care of you."  
  
Ellie's muscles started to relax when she understood that the woman was harmless.  
  
"So let me see what we have here..."  
  
Ellie groans as the nurse slowly lifts her tank top to reveal the wound.  
  
"I'm sorry. Ouch... it should hurt, indeed."  
  
"Is it really that bad ?" Ellie says in a slightly panicked tone.  
  
"Well..." she says with a concerned face before entering a storage room and coming back with some gloves that she puts in front of Ellie. "I guess it'd be ok if i wasn't an intern, but I am, so..." she stares at Ellie, looking for a reaction.  
  
Ellie doesn't react.  
  
"I'm kidding, don't worry !"  
  
It takes Ellie a few seconds to understand.  
  
"Right..." Ellie says, faking a laugh to pretend she got the joke to not make her feel bad.  
  
"I'm sorry if I scared you."  
  
"No no, don't worry... I'm pretty out of it, it's me."  
  
There's an awkward silence. _This is **so** awkward_, Ellie thinks to herself.  
  
"Well, you'll be fine."  
  


* * *

  
Ellie wakes up as the anesthetic's effect wears off. Her spine and her neck are hurting. She opens her eyes and slowly tries to get up but she suddenly feels something on her temple, making her stop moving immediately.  
  
"Man, I knew I couldn't trust you." Ellie says while thinking about a way to get out of this situation.  
  
"Shut the fuck up!" says the man holding the gun against her temple.  
  
"I'm fucking weak right now, what kind of coward would threaten me like that ?"  
  
Without moving her head, she looks on the side and glimpses at least two other men ready to shoot her. The deep wounded guy is not here anymore.  
  
"You might be weak now, but I'm not taking the risk to have to deal with a fucking monster !"  
  
"What are y- Oh. You're talking about..."  
  
"Of course I'm talking about the motherfucking bite ! You sneaky bitch. Coming here before you turn into one of those monsters to fuck us over ?"  
  
_Fuck, it's not good_.  
  
"I'm fucking immune !" Ellie shouts.  
  
"Right" he says with a loud laugh as he puts more pressure on her temple.  
  
"I'm fucking serious man, I even got a bite covered with acid. If I wasn't immune, I wouldn't be here getting fucking pissed by some assholes !"  
  
"You're gonna be nicer to us, or I'll blow up your fucking head !"  
  
The door opens to Darren.  
  
"What the hell is happening ?" Darren says. He doesn't believe what he's seeing.  
  
"Darren, she's infected and pretends to be immune. We need to take her down." says one of them.  
  
"Excuse me ? You're gonna leave her alone and leave before I send you to the Rattlers. You don't threaten a newcomer like this." Darren responds, cold as ice.  
  
"But-"   
  
"I won't repeat it."  
  
The men leave Darren and Ellie alone in the nursery. Ellie breathes a sigh of relief.  
  
"Show me."  
  
Ellie shows him her new bite.  
  
"How do you know you're immune ? Why would you try to get away with such a lie if you're gonna turn into one of these things soon anyway ?"  
  
"Because I'm not lying. I swear. Look" she shows him her tattooed arm. "This. There's a bite mark underneath. I got it during the summer when I was fourteen. My bestfriend got one too and turned into one. I'm still waiting for my turn."  
  
Darren sits on a chair close to the bed. He's collecting his thoughts.  
  
"You know what ? I trust you. But you'll cover that too. You're lucky it's small and we can cover it with a few bandages."  
  
Ellie's stays still. She was surely not expecting that.   
  
"Nobody can know. I'll tell the men who saw it that they made it up in their heads and that it was just a basic wound. Which it is, if you didn't lie to me."  
  
Darren stands up and clears his throat. He leaves silently, leaving Ellie on her own. She stays immobile for a few minutes, still in shock. She thought she was gonna die. This is not like telling Dina who already knew and trusted her. She finally gets up to look for some band-aids. A bandage would draw people's attention too much and she'd have to make up a story every time. She enters the storage room and sees her bag on the floor. _Yes_. She finds some band-aids and apply them on the bite. _It looks pretty weird, but I guess less weird than an infected’s bite_. She takes her bag to the bed and grabs her journal after checking if everything was there. She sits on the bed and starts writing her thoughts down.  
  
Would it have been better if I stayed ?  
Swallowed up the r̶e̶g̶r̶e̶t̶ s̶a̶d̶ shame,  
Given them what's left of me ?  
W̶a̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶m̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶g̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶?̶  
Do I s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ have it to give ?  
  
Can I offer the scraps now ?  
Gristle and bone. Chewed up and rotting.  
Or will it make them sick ;  
Corrode their insides, c̶r̶i̶p̶p̶l̶e̶ poison them ?  
  
I could be in the woods,  
B̶u̶r̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶e̶c̶t̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶l̶e̶a̶n̶  
Left for the insects to clean,  
Until the iron smell is gone,  
Until I'm bleached and b̶e̶a̶u̶t̶i̶f̶u̶l̶ brittle;  
Ready to display.  
  
Under these words, Ellie makes a drawing of Dina holding JJ in her arms. Dina looks at peace, happy, and JJ is laughing. Right now, all she can think of is them. She is gonna hold onto the idea that Dina and JJ are out there, in Jackson, safe and happy, ready to welcome her back again. And that is what's keeping her alive and sane right now. That she's not alone on earth.


	2. interaction equals danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie's goal is to lie low for a week and to avoid talking to people.

Ellie has been sitting there for a few minutes now. She is gently touching Dina and JJ’s drawing, lost in her thoughts, lost in the image of them that she drew herself. A memory of their happiness. Motherhood isn't easy, but doing it with Dina was such a blessing, the hard moments were **so** worth it. Her vision is getting blurred by her tears before they drop on her journal’s pages, still leaving it intact. She relives the last time she saw Dina again and again, everyday since she left. She regrets leaving like she’s never regretted anything else in her life. Dina deserved better but JJ. _This was so wrong of me. I’m his mom._ _I will never forgive myself for that._ Reliving the night she left every single day is making everyday worse than the other. The sadness and hesitation waking up at night, the nostalgia shutting the windows. The tension she felt when she felt Dina’s presence when she was packing her bag.

“Hey.” Dina said, breaking the silence.  
  
Having to stand up and turn around to see Dina’s desperate face. She already knew what was going on. She knew she couldn’t stop her. But she was desperate.  
  
“Hey.” Ellie said, trying to sound as calm as possible.  
  
It wasn’t time to cry. Because if she did, she wouldn’t have left this night, and it might have been too late to find Abby alive. And as much as she would like to blame it on Tommy, she would’ve still gone whether he came to their house or not. This was inevitable. Because what made her finally understand that all that violence was useless, and the pain for nothing, was chasing her one last time.  
  
“Man, it’s been a while since he slept this long huh ?” Dina said with a small laugh.  
  
She pretended like she didn’t know, like she still believed that Ellie would stay. She was bad at acting chill, changing subjects. But who wouldn’t in this situation ?  
  
“He had a day.” said Ellie.  
  
“Yeah. He’s fine.” said Dina, looking away. “Come back to bed. We’ll talk about it in the morning. Okay ?”  
  
“I have to finish it.” said Ellie.  
  
“You don’t owe Tommy anything.”  
  
But again, the problem wasn’t Tommy. At all.  
  
“I don’t sleep.” she paused for a moment. “I don’t eat. I’m… I’m not like you, Dina.”  
  
 _I wanna stop thinking about this. This is just breaking my heart. Destroying it. Wrecking it_ . Ellie gives her brain a break and closes the journal before putting it back in her backpack. It took her a lot of courage to stand up and go outside. Face the people she doesn’t even know. Who might be suspicious of her. She hopes she won’t jump into one of the men who threatened her earlier. She just needs to lie low for a week. _Just a week, and I'll be free._ Since they’re such a small group, she could definitely find something not too dangerous to help them. _Like… gardening or looking after children_ ? _I mean, I wouldn’t deserve it considering how I left my own child._  
  
“Oh, Ellie !” the nurse who took care of her got surprised when walking into Ellie. “Didn’t see you there !” She looks worried, directly looking at her hand.  
  
"Yeah, thanks by the way, I'm already feeling better."  
  
The nurse has a forced smile. She's trying really hard to avoid looking at Ellie's hand, but it's too obvious.  
  
“Yes hum… I saw your… I’m guessing it was a pug’s bite right ? If you’re still walking here freely ?” the nurse is trying to keep her calm, but her stress is showing even more when she tries to hide it.  
  
"Sure, a pug. Of course. They can be pretty tough you know. I was even surprised they still existed and weren't wiped out of the planet after the pandemic started, but I guess they're tougher than I thought..." Ellie shows a pinched smile. "Well, I guess I’ll…” Ellie scans her environment. “Guess I’ll go to the canteen to eat breakfast. See you !”  
  
 _God, I talk way too much_. Ellie immediately leaves her on the side of the road, and fast walks to the place that had a 'canteen' sign. This is the first thing that she spotted but also, she wouldn’t say no to a good breakfast. Even a bad one at this point. She enters the small packed canteen and waits at the end of the line to get food. She holds her missing fingers to try to hide them. _It’s not the thing I’m gonna be bragging about_. _Or anything else for that matter. Well, maybe my comic collection is pretty nice. Pretty nice for a post Outbreak-Day comic collection at least_.  
  
"Shut up,” she whispers to herself.  
  
In the waiting line, she overhears random conversations of all sorts.  
  
“I know right. I had to kill a huge infected. Like there was fungus growing on its own first layer of fungus.”  
  
“Ew, don’t talk about that when we're about to eat. You know, I wish my mom would make me breakfast again. This tastes like prison food.”  
  
“Have you been to prison ?”  
  
“Of course not, you dumbass ! It’s just a way of speaking. Like, I heard prison food was not great. So if this breakfast’s not great, it’s like prison food, you know?”  
  


* * *

  
Ellie sat at the end of a table to avoid any interaction. _In an unknown place, where I am the foreigner, interaction equals **danger**_. Ellie hasn't eaten an actual meal for more than a month, the last time she did was at the farm with Dina and JJ. This idea made her slightly cry, but as soon as she realized there were people around, she wiped away her tears so nobody could see it.  
  
"Everything fine ?" a guy sits in front of her.  
  
"I don't know you." Ellie says, careful.  
  
"Well... everyone here knows me, but nobody knows you... I guess I don't want you to feel left out."  
  
"I don't mind being on my own, so... that was kinda useless."  
  
"Ouch..." he says, a fake hurt look on his face. "I'll stay here, if you don't mind, but I won't talk to you... sorry I was intrusive."  
  
Ellie stares at the guy who just started eating for a few seconds then comes back to her scrambled eggs and bacon. Once every few minutes, she takes a look at him, his face, his clothes, his behaviour. She's scanning him, trying to guess if he is trustworthy. He seems nice, with a pretty innocent look on his face. He makes a lot of facial expressions and sometimes he even makes sounds after taking a bite, which makes him seem very approachable. _He seems kinda dumb_. As the guy was drinking from his glass of milk, he noticed that Ellie was looking at him and stopped moving, the glass of milk still tilted against his lips. Ellie immediately looked at her tray and ate the last edible thing left on it : breadcrumbs. She avoids looking at him and finishes eating the miserable breadcrumbs from her tray as the guy is now looking at her. She finally faces him as he is drying his mouth with a towel.  
  
"You were staring at me." he says, as seriously as possible.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about." Ellie tries to look innocent.  
  
"Don't even. I saw you !" he points his finger at Ellie.  
  
Ellie tries to keep her serious face and looks away to hide the smile she felt was uncontrollably gonna come.  
  
"Girl- you just smiled."  
  
"I didn't." she covers her mouth with her hand.  
  
"You **did** !" he screams in stupefaction.  
  
"Are you sure you’re ok ? Because I didn't."  
  
"You totally did ! Oh my god, I can't believe you're even trying to lie about this ! You're so stubborn."  
  
"Oh, that's many accusations now. I call it slander."  
  
"You just- oh my god. Someone save me." he is exhausted.  
  
" **Ah** ! You give up, I win." Ellie has her first sincere smile.  
  
"I just can't anymore. You're too annoying. Has anyone ever told you that ?" he grabs some bread and continues to eat.  
  
Ellie recalls the night at Eugene's weed farm. Dina calling her infuriating, and Ellie asking her "Have you met you ?". And all the sexual tension between them as they were pretending to hate each other. _Good times_. _Quiet before the storm_.  
  
"Something like that, yes."  
  
He tried to contain his laughter, but couldn't anymore.  
  
"What is your problem, dude ?" Ellie starts laughing too.  
  
"What is **your** problem ? Seriously, that was unrealistic." he takes a sip of orange juice. "Thanks for that."  
  
Ellie sighed.  
  
"I'm Ellie, by the way."  
  
"Mh, I don't know if I should tell you my name..."  
  
"Why..." she squints.  
  
"You look like you'd make puns outta names. I don't wanna have to hear dumb jokes."  
  
"Mh... I do make puns, so you have a point. Names aren't what I usually go for though..."  
  
"I see, I was still close."  
  
"Sure. And my jokes aren't dumb."  
  
Ellie stands up to put her tray away. The guy does the same and walks alongside her.  
  
"My name's Simon." he goes for a handshake.  
  
Ellie shakes his hand.  
  
"Thanks for trusting me, Si....." she pretends to be looking for a pun.   
  
He playfully taps her arm.  
  
"Just kidding, I can't think of anything."  
  
They leave the canteen and stop in the middle of the road.  
  
"I have to work in thirty minutes, and I need to get some stuff in my room. I guess I'll see you tonight ?"  
  
Ellie hesitated. She is not certain what he meant by "I’ll see you tonight" and hopes that it was just a friendly "I’ll see you tonight".  
  
"Yes, sure !"  
  
Ellie is now alone in the middle of the road. She doesn't really know where she's supposed to go. She smells her armpits. _Ew_. She enters a bar and asks for Darren. She doesn't know anyone else, so it made sense for her to wanna ask him. And also, he rules the place. _Crazy how no matter where or when, bars will always be packed. I'm wondering if that was the same pre-Outbreak Day. Did people need to get drunk to forget about their shitty lives too ? I guess it wasn’t that different. I wish I only had the problems they probably used to have though._ She is told that he should be at the gate. Once she gets there, she can see Darren handing weapons to some people.  
  
"Be careful, as always. If you see Rattlers and there's not too many of them, you take them down, okay ? Usually they travel in small groups." Darren waves at them as they're leaving through the open gate. He sees Ellie. "Oh, Ellie. Good to see you're up." He discreetly looks at her left hand. "Funny how such a small thing gets more attention than two missing fingers."  
  
"I wouldn't call it funny, but it sure is surprising." she looks at her own hand as a reminder. "I was wondering, where can I take a shower ? And maybe even put my stuff, because I'm not certain the nurses would love to constantly bump into my bag..."  
  
"Ah, let me see. We don't have a lot of places to give, so far, only a few have an actual house and privacy. So I'll just give you a bed in a shared room, if that's ok."  
  
"Yes, I won't be picky... that's the most comfort I've had in a long time."  
  
"Good. I'm gonna ask Annie to give you some clothes and a towel, and she'll take care of you. In the meantime, I'll find you a free bed, okay ?"  
  
"Thank you, Darren. Really. It means a lot."  
  
Darren smiles.  
  
"Don't be so happy, you'll start working tomorrow if your state is good."  
  
She laughs. Darren takes Ellie to the front of the bar. The woman who took her to the nursery is sitting there, drinking coffee. When she sees Darren, she immediately smiles and stands up to hug him.  
  
"Annie."  
  
"Darren. You look like you had a good night !"  
  
"I actually did."

"That's so great. You need it, after all."  
  
He laughs.  
  
"I think this one needs it even more than me." he taps Ellie's shoulder. "I need you to take care of her. Again. I know you're doing a lot but I trust you the most."  
  
"Of course, that really isn't a problem. You, go back to whatever you need to do." they're both playful to each other. Annie looks at me and grimaces. "They really let you wear your dirty tank-top ? I'll scold them, that's not right. Come on, we'll find you comfy clothes. What's your size ?"  
  


* * *

  
Annie is trying to find comfortable clothes that are Ellie's size, but she also wants Ellie to like them.   
  
"Really, I don't mind. I'm fine with anything."  
  
"Ellie. Just tell me what you like."  
  
"Plus, it's someone else's... they don't even know we're going through their stuff. I don't really like it."  
  
Annie stops and puts the pants she was holding back where they were. They both sit on a bed and Ellie sighs.  
  
"I'm sorry to make things difficult. I just know I wouldn't like people to go through my stuff. They're personal and they carry memories with them."  
  
"I understand. But you need clothes. I would give you some of mine, but I don't think it'd fit."  
  
"I really don't mind."  
  
"Okay then."  
  
They headed to Annie's tiny house. Annie takes a box from under her bed and puts it onto her bed. It says "TEEN" on the side.  
  
"I think there might be some old pants in here..." she goes through the box.  
  
"Are these clothes you used to wear as a teen ?" Ellie asks, curious.  
  
"Mh, yes. I guess my brain decided to forget about their existence when we were looking for clothes because I'm emotionally attached to them. Reminds me of the pre-Outbreak days. I keep them under here like some valuable treasure. I think you reminded me they were here when you mentioned that clothes can carry memories."  
  
"Oh... I get it." Ellie grabs a tee-shirt that has a kitsch logo with palm trees on it. "I can just wear what I'm wearing right now, I don't want t-"  
  
"No please, take whatever you want. I think it's also time for me to say goodbye. I think clothes can have many stories. Make them live again." Annie grabs some grey pants. "Look, they're pretty similar to the ones you're wearing. I used to wear your size. Try these on." she smells the pants. "They still smell good. Here, take them." she forces the pants into Ellie's hands. "I think pretty much everything in here should fit you. I used to love wearing logo tee-shirts and flannels that were too big for me. I hope you're fine with these."  
  
"I am, really. Thank you Annie." Ellie smiles and grabs the palm trees tee-shirt as she stands up.  
  
"I'm the one thanking you, I think I really needed to get rid of that stuff. I'll take the box to wherever you'll be sleeping at. Now, just take a shower in my bathroom. I'll try to find Darren and ask him where you're gonna sleep. Make yourself at home !"  
  
Once Annie is gone, Ellie gets to the bathroom. _Not really hard to find, there's literally two rooms, just like where I lived in Jackson_. She takes off her clothes and looks at her whole naked body for the first time in weeks. _I am so skinny_. _It hurts to watch_. _I look miserable_. She tries to count all the bruises covering her body, but she gives up at ten. The dirt, the blood, the sweat. They haven't left her skin for so long. She gets in the shower and has the best shower of her life. But it also hurts. Because again, the last time she took a proper shower, it was at the farm with Dina. She cries for two minutes in the shower until she hears the front door open. She dries herself with a towel that was on the sink and puts Annie's clothes on. She can hear Darren and Annie talking as she looks at her reflection. She specifically chose this tee-shirt because it reminded her of a tee-shirt she used to wear as a teenager. The logo is very different and the tee-shirt a bit oversize, but it still makes her smile for a second before leaving the bathroom.  
  
"I found you a bed, and then I remembered you needed your bag, so I brought it." says Darren, handing the bag to Ellie.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"I'll take it from here. Thanks, Annie." Darren says before opening the door for me. "So as I said, don't expect too much privacy. There won't be any."  
  
Ellie thinks to herself, _he had a great opportunity to say that there won't be **Annie** , but I guess I can't expect everyone to be a genius_.  
  
"So this is the place." they enter some big house. "This bed's empty. If you need anything, just tell me or Annie. Consider yourself at home. And, rest well because tomorrow, you start working. Also, dinner at 8. We'll eat outside, behind the canteen."  
  
Ellie walks around the house. There is a bunch of beds and closets in this big room, and there's one kitchen and one bathroom for everyone. _I guess that's fine_. She grabs her journal and puts her bag under the bed. She sits more comfortably onto the bed and opens the journal at the page following Dina's drawing, and starts drawing Joel. Which she has been trying to do so many times since his death, but it would always end up in her crossing his eyes out. This time, she was able to do it without giving up. He's playing the guitar. _That's him. That's what I wanna remember_. And for a moment, she even felt like he was here with her, proudly looking at her peacefully drawing him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interaction equals danger... or does it ?


End file.
